Terminal and binding-screw for electric batteries and connections.



N0. "673,7!0. Patented May 7, 190'. W. B. EDWARDS.

TERMINAL AND BINDING SCREW FOB ELECTRIC BATTERIES AND CONNECTIONS.

(Applicntion filed Nov. 2. 1900,)

(Na Nodal.)

'UNITED 1 STAT S PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM ROWLAND EDWARDS, OF WEYBRIDGE, ENGLAND.

TERMINAL AND BINDING-SCREW FOR ELECTRIC BATTERIES AND CONNECTIONS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 673,710, dated May '7, 1901. Application filed November 2, 1900- derial No 35,282. (No model.)

To all whom/ it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM ROWLAND EDWARDS, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at Weybridge, in the county of Surrey, England, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Terminals and Bi riding-Screws for Electric Batteries and Connections; and I hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, true, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to the terminals and binding-screws used for making the connections in electric, galvanic, and storage batteries; and the object of my invention is to prevent the corrosion by acid fumes and acids used in the batteries of the exposed parts of the terminals and binding-screws, by which they are rapidly destroyed and the goodness of the electrical connection is affected. 1 attain this object by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a side view of a binding-screw by which the leaden conducting-strips forming theconuection between the parts of a galvanic or storage battery are held together. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the same, and Fig. 3 is a transverse section through the line A B in Fig. 2.

Siniilarletters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The central screw (1,, of brass, copper, iron, or steel, is provided from end to end with a n no thread, one of its ends being screwed into the hollow nut 12, the threaded opening in which does not pass completely through the nut, but is closed at the end at c. The screw a is shown flattened at two of its opposite sides 61 and c, Fig. 3, to receive a key or spanner, by which it can be tightly screwed into the nut c or unscrewed. A second similar nut f can be screwed upon the other end of the screw a. The inner faces of the nuts 0 and f are not flat, but are conically recessed at their centers, so as to leave a sharp projecting angular ridge g projecting above their surface.

hi are washers, of soft lead, passing freely over the screw a and resting against the faces of the nuts b and f.

It represents the lead strips or terminals which are to be connected together.

The nuts bfare flattened at two of their opposite sides to afford facilities for holding them while being screwed up, or they maybe made hexagonal or square. The nuts Z) and fare made of a non-corrosive metal or material, such as what is well known as anti- 6o moniated lead, an alloy of lead and antimony, which while snfficiently hard to receive the screw-thread is not injuriously affected by the acid and acid fumes used in or escaping from the batteries. The screw a 65 having been tightly screwed into the nut b and the lead washer It passed over it and against the face of the nut, the lead connecting-strips are fitted over the screw, the lead washer i is fitted against the outer strip, and 70 the nut f is screwed upon the end of the screw 0: and is tightened up until the sharp ridges g are pressed into the lead washers, forming a perfectly close and air-tight joint.

The connections can be quickly and easily connected and disconnected, and no oxidation or deposit of acid salts takes place upon them, as has heretofore been invariably the case with the connections of galvanic and storage batteries, so that the terminals and binding-screws always remain perfectly clean and are very durable.

My improvement is applicable to terminals or binding-screws for all kinds of electrical connections in electric batteries or accumulators.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a terminal or binding-screw for electric batteries, the combination with a screwthreaded pin, of a nut secured to one end of said pin, a second nut interiorlyscrew-threaded adapted to engage with the threads on the other end of the pin, and washers of soft conducting material interposed between the in- 5 nor faces of said nuts, the said second nut being provided with an annular ridge on its inner face, substantially as described.

2. In a terminal or binding-screw for electric batteries, the combination of a pin screw- I00 threaded at both ends, a pair of interiorlyscrew-threaded closed nuts or caps having comically-recessed inner faces, and a pair of pliable washers of conducting material interposed between said closed nuts or caps, substantially as described.

3. In a terminal or binding-screw for electric batteries, the combination of a screwthreaded pin having flattened ends, a pair of interiorly-screW-threaded closed nuts or caps,

the said nuts or caps being provided on their inner faces with an annular ridge or projec-,

tion, and a pair of pliable washers of conducting material interposed between said closed nuts or caps adapted to engage and conform with the surface of the inner faces of the nuts or caps for making a non-corrosive connection, substantially as described. 

